Interview: Macao SAR Legislature Plays Active Role

Over the past year, legislators of the Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR) have played an active role in enacting laws and supervising the work of the government, Susana Chou, president of the Macao Legislative Council, said in Macao on December 14.

Though the SAR's legislators were officially sworn in on December 20, 1999, they had actually begun their work two months earlier to enact necessary laws which would ensure the sound operation of the Macao SAR as soon as it was founded.

Up to now, the Legislative Council has passed 25 laws, including 11 completed at the moment of the SAR's founding. In addition, the legislature has worked out a number of rules standardizing its own operation.

"Such a big amount of work was unthinkable in the history of legislature of Macao," Chou said. "What's more, we have neither overstocked legal documents nor unsettled complaints of residents on our desk."

In 1976 Susana Chou entered the First Legislative Assembly of Macao under Portuguese rule, and has acted as a legislator successively for some 20 years.

"Now the legislators have greater enthusiasm for their work," she said. "We know we have the responsibility of working for the benefits of residents. We regard the legislature as our home."

Before Macao's return to the motherland, the Legislature Assembly had to work in accordance with the Constitution of Portugal and the Organizational Constitution of Macao. Under the principles of "one country, two systems" and "Macao people governing Macao" at present, the Macao Basic Law is the fundamental guidance of legislative work, the president said.

"As the SAR enjoys a high degree of autonomy, we have never felt pressure or received no instructions from the central government, we decide what we should do all by ourselves," the veteran legislator said.

Different from the legislative body before, the Legislative Council of the SAR has better supervision over the work of the government. There are rather heated debates on the SAR's administration.

In comparison, members of the Legislative Assembly merely used to go through the formality of passing the policy address of Portuguese governor in Macao, and they had no say in making government policy.

"Now the chief executive and senior officials of the SAR listen attentively to the opinion, suggestion or even harsh criticism from the legislators, and often get valuable inspiration in the course of debates," Susana Chou said.

Refuting the saying of some foreign envoys that there seems to be no clash between the legislature and the government, Chou said that the social conditions are different in Macao.

"Macao is a small place and the people here are sincere and honest, we don't have to attack each other to solve our problems," she said. "When we have different views, we can sit down together and have discussions to find a way out."

"Both legislators and government officials aspire to manage the affairs of the SAR well. We have the common goal of building a brighter future of Macao," the president said.

People's Daily Online --- http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/